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A nice idea, but poorly executed

This phone has been around for years now and I've just recently pulled it out of my draw to recycle in exchange for a couple of quid.

The phone at the time of release about five years ago was truely revolutionary, it held one of the best mobile phone cameras going, and rather shockingly had a screen that you could see the pictures on, it might not sound much in today's world of 3/4/5/6 megapixel phone cameras but at the time it was standard to be able to take a photo the size of your thumbnail and that was about it, you could tell it was a photograph...but that was it. I still have the picture I took on this phone of the local church after a storm where you could see the rainbow up in the sky showing each distinctive colour, something that's quite hard to catch on even a decent dedicated camera.

The phone is quite large, even given the time that it came out in, but this isn't necessarily bad, as I know that I for one can't stand phones that you can lose in your jeans pocket.

The keyboard design however is the one reason I absolutely hated this phone. For some reason someone came up with the concept that putting the phone keys in a round dial like the old rotary phones would be a really clever idea. Admittedly it is part of why I bought the phone, but it's also part of why six months later I stuck it in a draw permanently. It was just horrific to try and text on, I didn't know where to put my fingers and thumbs to control the keys. A great idea but thankfully one that never took off!

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DON'T judge this phone by its size

This phone is really old now so I honestly don't know why I'm writing this review, well, if someone wants to step about 2 years back in time and buy this phone then they are welcome to look at my opinion on it fist!

I got this phone a long time ago for christmas, But I was wanting another phone (Motorola V-500). However, when I opend this phone, though I was a bit dissapointed at it's size, I was almost knocked on conscious by the shere range of fetures it had to offer. It was the first phone with the series 60 platform to have a built in camera. Within 2 hours I couldn't put it down! Before this phone, the only Nokia phones I had ever owned were the Nokia 3210 and 3310 but this was incredable!

The phone lacks somewhat in it's quality of sound though, this I could only complain about when it came to ring tones! Monophonic ring tones are exeptionally loud, but, who wants that? Polyphonic ringtones are rather quiet and disapointing. The phone also has an awquad keypad which takes a while to get used to, but when I got the better of it I was quite impressed by it (probably the gorgeous blue LED lights under it)

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Just a really good phone, i like the keypad shape aswell.

This is a helpa4eva review on the Nokia 3650.I hope you enjoy the review (its a long one!)

INTRO:I was bought the Nokia 3650 as a present (as i waterlogged my other one!) and was told it was quite a good phone. Whereas some people think "phones are just for calling people" which i see their point, i want it with all the stuff (polyphonic tones, camera, colour etc.)

It all depends on what sort of phone you want. There are so many different phones out on the market today that it is a difficult question but if you want a phone with features-a-plenty, a rather nice design that i find so much easier to type messages on, a guarantee that it wont suddenly shut down on you and your not one of those people that thinks their phone has to be the size of their thumb otherwise its a brick, then guess what phone im going to reccomend to you? Thats right! a Nokia 3650!

The Phone has quite a long-lasting and reliable battery: - Battery Cell is a BL-5C 850 mAh, Li-Ion up to 2 to 4 hours Talk time, up to 150 to 200 hours long Standby Time and the Battery charge time is 1h 35min, so thats a long time.

But on the downside a lot of that time can be spent opening applications, such as the camera which can take around 4-5 seconds to open. Now that doesnt sound like much but you think about it in your head and its quite a while!

And also, another one of the features on the 3650 that sealed the deal of my pride with this phone, is the fact that it has polyphonic ring tones.

Now the introductions finished, lets start to get on with information about the phone itself.

DESIGN:

As i said earlier, some people only want tiny phone, because its all about the looks of the phone. In my opinion the 3650 has an really nice, unique design which will definitely impress your friends. The LCD on the phone is of quite a large size and clarity (4096 colors and 176 x 208 pixels).

Just below the screen there are two buttons which you can programme them what to do in the configuration menu, which will make your favorite applications/features open. The buttons on the keypad include a five way scroll key and, the phones trademark, the circular keypad. Now some might NOT like the circular keypad because of being used to the "normal" keypad (4 below the 1, 8 below the 5 etc.) but i have quite large hands, and i find it so much easier to type text messages and numbers etc. plus, this phone isnt just any other normal phone with normal keys.

You can also either set a background image of your choice which youve taken via the camera or leave it blank, I kind of like a wallpaper of my choice on the phone of my choice. OR if you really are getting technical, if you have a Bluetooth USB adapter and the Nokia 3650 PC Suite (Downloadable from Nokia.com) you can use images from the internet as your background!

FEATURES (MY FAVOURITE!):

The Nokia 3650 has a very impressive 6 way call conference feature, it is Tri-band, allowign for talk anywhere, Hold option, Mute option, DTMF and a very good LOUDSPEAKER option, which allows you to talk to people from a distance, and the clarity when the loudspeaker is on is amazing.

FEATURES I: CONTACTS

Well if you have a phone like this youre gonna have to know where you can put all the numbers of your friends! its really easy, just enter the number and click the designated options button and save, after that you have the choice to put your contact in various categories ranging from Phone (Home or business), Mobile (Home or business), Fax (Home or business), or Pager, all the contacts of an individual can be added to his profile erasing the need to save an individuals multiple contacts over and over. For an example: Adams mobile phone number, house phone number, office number, fax, pager all can be saved under Adam and a special ring tone can be assigned to all of those numbers, so you know when its him calling

Also in the contacts of the Nokia 3650 there is a feature called user groups management. multiple individuals and friends can be saved to a specific group and you can name the group according to what the group represents e.g you can have all your friends numbers in your friends user group, and again, you can assign a ring tone to the group so only when your friends ring up can i get to hear the Simpsons theme!, this is really helpful as all your annoying contacts can be ignored or avoided completelet.

Another special feature in the contacts section is that every contact can be assigned a thumbnail image that will be displayed when that contact calls, so when my friend rings up i get to see a photo of them so i can remember what they look like! Besides the small thumbnail you can save an individuals high resolution picture in his profile, that you can check at any time, and a lot of phones do not have that. The internal memory itself is 3MB not to mention the memory card that comes with the phone that packs an extra load of space, so it is incredibly easy to save many many pictures.

And yet again ANOTHER contact management feature is the profiles section, in which all profiles can be modified to your chosing, only the profile named Generals name cannot be changed. For each profile you can modify a variety of options. You can chose your ringing tone, the ringing volume and wether or not you want the vibration feature on, incoming message tones and volume and/or vibration option. warning tones for when you have low battery etc.

Good. now where done here, your probably bored, but lets proceed to the camera features!

FEATURES II: CAMERA (Stills & Video)

Here is a feature which is not scarce amongst the newer phones, but nevertheless a feature to be proud of. The camera on the Nokia 3650 can be used to take short video clips, or still images.

STILLS

The camera can either be activated by the MENU, or by setting the camera as the program opened when you press one of the programmable buttons below the screen.(preferred choice for most people). You can directly save any taken still image into the phone memory or the memory card for use and access in the future, the image quality is superior to quite a few other phones, and takes the cake compared to many other phones, that while they have cameras, are nowhere near as good quality. While taking your image you have three options to alter the style of the photo taken:

1. Portrait - This mode is used to take photos that are portrait shaped (duh!) and is handy for pictures of peoples faces to include in your contacts.

Night - This is another piece of superiority compared to other phones. It lights up the picture quite a lot compared to the light in the room. If it is foggy or dark whilst you are taking the image, the picture is just as normal as any other photo, and very good qualirt. You can also set the quality of the photo taken, which will effect the overall size of the photo.

VIDEO

With this feature which is even scarcer amongst todays phones, you can take 10-11 second video clips if you are moving the phone, or the people in front of the camera are moving, but if things are relativeley still you can film them up to an average of 21 seconds. The video is of a reasonable quality, but not brilliant, as the use of video in phones is still in the pioneering stages.

FEATURE III: MESSAGING AND EMAILS

Messages are incredibly easy to send and type and is in a Microsoft style format. It is undescribably easy to send pictures, ringtones, e-mails, anything, and if you want to finish it later, or if you want to send it more than once and dont want to type it out over and over again, you can save the message as a draft (just like on ciao!).

You can programme your e-mail adress and others e-mail adresses into your phone reasonably easily in a matter of 4-6 minutes. Sending messages to e-mails is another new feature that is only just starting to be included in many phones.

FEATURES IV: CONNECTIVITY

Now for the bit that is not at all rare on new phones, or even year old phones, so it is not surprising that this great phone has access to the internet and connectivity to download files in many different ways.

1. Bluetooth: As listed before, Bluetooth can be used to shift ringtones, games, images, pretty much anything onto your phone via a driver appropriate to the phone, and a bluetooth USB adapter. It can be used to shift things from your phone to your computer also, and even your PDA. But i dont have a PDA so i dont know too much about that area of things.

2. Infrared - Most people know what this word means, and so it is reasonably easy to guess what this feature does and how it works. An infa red beam is used to connect to your PDA or computer to transfer your chosen files, and works quite similiarly to Bluetooth, in the way that it is cordless, but where infrared is simpler to used, Bluetooth has a longer range and is generally more reliable.

NOTE: Due to the round-bottomed nature of the Nokia 3650, there is no room for a bluetooth dongle connector or any other data cable for that matter, so you must hunt for a wirless bluetooth USB, that you programme with your phone, and plug into your PDA or Computer.

FEATURES V: HELP

A very important feature to even a person who has owned a phone like this for a while, if you get stuck, you can refer to this in-phone guide to help you. This feature is not in many phones, and is especially helpful to people who have not used the phone before.

FEATURES V1: WORLD WIDE WEB

The 3650 has a reasonable WAP enabled section that lets you browse the internet to download wallpapers for your phone, ringtones, games etc. anything that you want. Although the connectivity is quite good, it is somewhat slow. The internet cost is quite cheap, and so do not feel pressured to hurry up before you run out of money when you are using this feature.

FEATURES VII: GAMES

My favourite feature, as when i get bored i can just whip out my phone and have a little play. Inittialy, the 3650 comes with 2 games, Snake EX and Mix Pix, but games such as Bounce, Ping Pong, or even film-based games like the Italian Job can be downloaded from the computer and installed onto your phone viao infrared or Bluetooth, or can be downloaded directly onto your phone using the WAP browser. Below is a description of the two games you are given on your phone before you install any more.

Snake EXThe game snake started way back on some sort of game console, but was brought into the nokia world in the simple yet reliable Nokia 3210. Since then it has evolved into a snake shaped, colour, polyphonic-noise-making beauty! Game-lovers eat your heart out!

MIX PIXThis is a really funky game based on those really annoying little plastic sheets with squares that you move around, and each square has an image on, and the aim of the game is to get the picture right instead of it being all muddled up. Besides the pictures that are given to use with mixpix, you can choose pictures you have taken, and it will muddle them up for you!

FEATURES VIII: TOOLS

In the tools folder you can pretty much set up most of your phone, and it has a few extra interesting bits.

Settings - Make subtle changes to the layour of your phone, such as clock type (analog or digital) colour scheme (red green or blue menus) background picture if you want one, etc, etc.

Call Divert - Setting up a diversion that will take callers to your answerphone.

Speed Dial - Assign keys to numbers to reach certain people quicker. Up to 8 numbers can be assigned as a speed dial number.

Voice Mail - Check if anyone has left you an answerphone message.

To Do Notes - In here you put your.. ermm.. TO DO NOTES! you key in the notes just like a message, and it will save it into a folder, with the date attached for you!

FEATURES IX: EXTRAS

This folder contains most of the bits and bells that make it o-so-great, and makes it the cream of the crop, separating it from being just "any other phone"

Notes - Description above.

Calculator - Im not even going to bother here. Its for playing with numbers. 'nuff sed.

Converter - Another unique feature, although you have to go through the haslle of setting it up in the first place. The converter can be used to convert pretty much anything, currency, weights, mentric to imperial measurements, degrees centigrade to fahrenheight, etc. etc.

Recorder: - A pretty cool feature, can record up to 1 minute of quality sound, played back to you using Media Player. The sound clips can actually be used as ringtones. NOTE: dont bother trying to play a song on your hi-fi whilst recording it on your phone to save money on ringtones, because you get loads of feedback and it doesnt work.

Composer - Quite an unexpected feature for a phone that has polyphinc ringtones, but still, is fun to use, and instead of the traditional Press the keys and random letters come up, the screen is in the form of sheet music, and you just move the notes up and down as appropriate.

Clock: - Set an alarm.

About: - The version of your phone, drivers and makers can be found here.

WHEW THAT WAS THE LONGEST REVIEW IVE EVER WRITTEN

THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS REVIEW BY HELPA4EVA ON: NOKIA 3650.

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I have had this phone for nearly two years, and only just upgraded to a 6630 (see my other reviews) but it was a hard thing to abandon this wonderful phone.

The first thing that you notice about this phone is the circular keypad, it takes a little getting used to but I am now having the same problems adjusting to the 'standard' keypad of my 6630. Don't be put off this great phone just because it looks a little different.

The screen and camera on the phone are now pretty standard, but when it came out they were by far the best that you could get. I previously had a 7650 and this was very poor in comparision. The canera may not run into the mega pixels that some cameras do today, but if you want high quality images then buy a digital camera. If you want to use the video recorder, and lets face it you will, you need to download a patch from the nokia website that allows the recording of sound as well. The video recorder that comes with the phone can anly record about 10 seconds, but there are plenty of applications out that allow you to record for as long as you like (or actually to how much memory you have).

This phone has all the connectivity opions you could possibly need, as well as the obvious gsm network (including wap) there is an infared connector and a bluetooth one, these can then also act as a modem connection for say your laptop, it's not going to givce you braodband speeds but then at the time that this phone came out broadband was not as common (only two years ago!!). If you don't have a infared or bluetooth connection on your pc then there is a data cable that you can buy, although it is probably cheaper to get a bluetooth dongle with them getting cheaper and cheaper.

You will want to connect this phone to your pc, you can transfer files, make backups and install applications with the nokia media suite that comes on a cd with the phone. This application seems to not like the infared connections a regulary fails on this so i would suggest getting yourself bluetooth. The video files are saved in 3gp format and you also get a player that can read these on your computer.

With the use of various third party applications you can put these connections to great use, for example recently i have used the infared port to control my television and the bluetooth connection to control power point prensentaions.

This phone can make voice calls, it also has a speaker phone mode and can hold conference calls. The messaging on this is also of the standard you have come to expect from nokia including mms.

There is a 3mb internal memory, again new phones surpase this but this is still good, and it comes shipped with a 16mb sd memory card. I have replaced this memory card with a 256mb one, and that is not as excessive as it sounds. You will fill this phone with so many applications and files. On my 3650 i have a windows style explorer, a memory monitor, a new video recorder, opera browser, a pdf reader, a word file reader, an excel reader, the ifared remote application, bluetooth application for power point, an mp3 player and then some photos, videos, mp3s and even a couple of episodes of the simpsons. There are also many games on there, there are the standard ones from nokia (they have some extra that you can download from thier website for free) there is a copy of fifa 2004 and doom amongst others, but by far the best games application you can get is goboy, which allows you to download roms of your favourite gameboy and gameboy colour games (you have to own the originals to do this legally) to play on your phone. There are thousnads of applications and games out there for the 3650.

The only reason that i got a new phone was because O2 offered it me for free, i prefer my 3650, but it is slower than the best new phones, but only the best it still beats most of todays phones and that is two years after coming out. This is by far the best phone that nokia ever produced.

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"Everyone says the picture quality is good 'for a phone' but it doesn't compare with a dedicated camera"

I like cameras. This is my tale of why I bought a Nokia 3650 and the surprising result. Camera phones. Phones with a cheap digital camera that take pics the size of postage stamps. Handy for teenagers to take pictures of their drunken mates at nightclubs with their tongues sticking out. But not much use else. That used to be roughly what I thought of camera phones from what I'd seen of the ads on TV. Is that what you think too? If so, you could be in for a shock. By now all those switched-on twenty-somethings who have grown extra thumbs for txting will have given up on this review and surfed off on much more interesting waves, so we can get our carpet slippers out and have a good moan about the state of the nation: As a customer, I think the phone industry in the UK is making a complete hash of marketing camera phones. Having journeyed to hell and back before arriving at my 3650 - pronounced 3-6-50 in case, like me, you didn't know - I think I know why: It's because they don't want you to use them! Ok. Let me qualify that: In my opinion the phone company's don't advertise the best features of these phones, and I hazard a guess it's because they've calculated that if picture phones were used to their full potential right now their networks would suffer meltdown. I like cameras. I can process and print black & white photographs myself - though these days I seldom have the time or can face the mess - and I'm obsessive enough to enjoy using a purely manual, old-style SLR camera. However, I also have a point-and-click, pocket camera because my wife and kids don't share my enjoyment of fiddling with exposures and framing shots. I would never dream of buying a picture phone for the sake of the postage-stamp-sized display on the handset, but it came as a revelation to me that some - not all - camera phones will take VGA sized images. VGA means 640 x 480 pixels. Which for most PCs means an image bigger than 1/2 the size of your PC screen. And - if you're on the right network - you can send your pictures at this size directly from your phone to any email address in the world the moment you take them. It's these features that turn a funny gimmick into an amazing tool. I admit it, my interest is in cameras not phones, so I hadn't previously studied phone capabilities with any great care. But as a parent, with a PC, I'm a prime customer for this product. I have never ever seen these capabilities advertised. Not only that, but I found that the staff at phone resellers, and even the phone networks, don't have a clue about these capabilities either, as you'll see further on in my ramblings. Once you know that the 3650 can take proper-sized pictures, and you can get them onto your PC, it takes on a whole new dimension. Go on an impromtu trip to the zoo, kick a football around a field, or nip out for a flick and a pizza, and the 3650 is an ideal partner for capturing these kind of off-the-cuff, happy moments. It has three big benefits over a dedicated camera: 1. You tend to have it in your pocket when you need it. It's your phone. You carry it around with you. How much of the time do you carry your camera around with you? 2. It's informal. People who are uncomfortable being photographed will maintain relaxed eye contact with you whilst you hold the phone in front of them. Fumble around for a camera and lots of people freeze and look awful in photos. (Then they blame you for taking bad pics of them!) 3. You can send the pics across the phone network to other phones, and much more importantly, to email addresses, as soon as you take them, or you can store them on the phone's memory card and download them to your PC later. OK. Before I get too carried away, I must be brutally honest: If you want good quality photos, buy a good quality camera that j ust takes pictures and nothing else. But if like me you have kids and you constantly find you never have a camera when they're on their best form, keep your current camera, but also buy a 3650 and carry it around with you always. The camera on the 3650 is probably quite reasonable, but the pictures often have the slightly fuzzy look of a digital image that's been compressed too much. You can't control the level of compression used on the images, and I suspect they're highly compressed so they don't take up too much of the poor phone company's bandwidth if they're sent across the network. This is a shame, because quite often you download your pics straight to your PC without sending them, so it would be nice to have control over the compression settings. Having said that, everyone, without exception, who has seen my pictures on my PC has been surprised at how good they look...considering that they come from a phone. New phones seem to come and go very quickly, so I'm not going to recommend you buy a 3650 without exploring the alternatives. However, if you want to use a camera phone as I've described above, make sure your choice - like the 3650 - includes the following capabilities: 1. VGA (ie 640 x 480 pixels) images 2. Bluetooth connectivity for downloading straight from your phone to your PC without sending over the phone network. (I had a terrible experience trying to set up an infra-red unit from a company that produced poorly translated instructions, didn't have a phone number and wouldn't respond to email requests for support. By contrast, my Bluetooth experience is flawless.) 3. The limit in size for MMS messages on the network you choose is AT LEAST 60k, preferably higher. (Vodafone is 30k, T-Mobile is 100k) See below for more details of this. When shopping for you phone - 3650 or otherwise - bear in mind my sorry tale: I went to all the major high street resellers. I only spoke to one person who understood what VGA images were or why I'd want a phone with a VGA camera. All but one of them tried to sell me inappropriate camera phones that wouldn't do what I asked for. I arrived at my 3650 after a harrowing ordeal of doggedly returning phones, holding forever on network support lines and cancelling contracts. First I was sold a Sony Ericcson T610. It's a beautiful piece of design and makes the 3650 look like a clunky brick. But it doesn't take VGA images. It went back. Then I was sold 3650 with a Vodafone contract. The phone takes VGA images, but - believe it or not - Vodafone won't let you send images that big! It went back. The contract had to be torn up. I spent a day phoning all the big network companies, none of their staff knew what their MMS limit was or why it was important. I came close to being sold a 3G phone/contract only to discover that picture messages on their network are treated like video and can only be sent within very limited regions. Finally I settled on a 3650 with T-Mobile. Of all the people I spoke to, the T-Mobile sales guy was the only person who knew his stuff, and wasn't afraid to phone someone else to check things rather than bullshit me. But you're unlikely to meet him. So take my 3-point list above, and make absolutely sure of them before you sign on the dotted line. Once they've got your signature you may find it very difficult to cancel if you've been misled. I won't go into the masses of other features on this phone. Other people on this site have done a better job of that than I could. My knowledge and interest is in the camera. This review is really about my experience of buying the 3650 and the surprising benefits I've found from it. The last little gem I have is this: If like me you haven't delved into digital photography before, check out online albums. My family snaps - from my 3650 - have taken o n a new lease of life by being made available to all my friends and relatives in albums on a website rather than stuffed in envelopes in a dusty drawer. The site I use is ofoto.co.uk. Happy snapping! (Don't let them bullshit you!)

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Being a new owner of this product, I have to say that it is an excellent piece of equipment, with it's features, you can take good quality photographs on the digital camera, it does however take poor quality video clips, but this is to be expected and the video quality isn't all to bad if viewed on the phone. The phone's memory can be upgraded with a MMC card, it is suggested that you use 128MB MMC cards, as higher capcity ones aren't tested by Nokia, I have yet to test it as I need to buy a MMC card :). The 16MB MMC card that is included is good enough if you put the saved items on the PC alot, this can be done using the phone's bluetooth and infra red or you can get a MMC card reader/writer, but if you use the MMC reader/writer, you will need to install a file explorer type program for the phone, but it's not hard to get a free one called FExplorer. Included in the box is a CD ROM containing programs which allow you to transfer files from the phone to the PC and vice versa and applications that allow you to view video taken on the phone with it's camcorder capabilities. The CD also offer other items which I have not checked yet, but they may be useful yet they may not. There are many programs out there for the phone, one which can take longer video clips and a camera software which can have digital zoom. The software to record and take pictures included already on the phone do not have such features, so you may want to get new video/picture taking software for the phone, also note that the video recorder that is included on the phone as default, does not record with sound, you will need to upgrade it by getting the upgrade from the Nokia website, alternatively, get another video taking program. One which I use can record as long as I want it to and how much space I have on my MMC card or phone. New games can be downloaded for the phone. You can also encode MP3s so that they can be played on the phone. The phone can also allow you to change the background image to whatever you choose, ringtones can be downloaded to further customise your phone, you can even get skins, which changes the way the Symbian OS looks like. Though the phone has many features packed in it, it does however, give a very short battery life, 3-4 hours max if you use these features alot and make calls and send text messages. The key "dial" layout is somewhat confusing to use when you first get it, and may take a few weeks to get used to. Though it has it's advantages and disadvantages, the phone is worth the £279 if you are looking for a good phone with digital camera/camcorder and upgradability (both software and memory) but if you aren't going to use these features much, it is not worth you buying, aim for something more suited to your liking, I use the features like mad constantly thus the reason I bought the phone. In short, a good solid mobile phone packed full of features, aimed for teens and feature buffs in mind. Not a phone for everyone. Buy if you would use the features and have the money, if not, look for something else.

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That is the ultimate mobile phone.The design and the features are outstanding! MAIN CHARACTERISTICS: I don't know what to mention first! Colour Screen, Polyphonic Ring tones, Integrated digital camera, video capture and playback, picture messaging The battery Standby Time is up to 200 hours and the battery Talk time is up to 240 minutes. The Size [in mm] is 30 x 57 x 26. The weight is 130g (maybe a little bit heavy but is full of goodies!!) It has memory capacity of 4mb that you can upgrade it with a memory card witch is fantastic.The potential is great. Some other features are : Integrated hands-free speaker, Midi and WAV ringing tones, Ringing tone composer, Photo album, RealOne player(that?s cool), Infrared, Bluetooth, Support for Java MIDP 1.0, Voice dialing,Voice recorder. (No. It doesn't make coffee(!) and doesn't doing the dishes(!)but apart from these it can do everything!) GAMES: The biggest surprise for me was the games! That phone is a real game station! The screen is not small at all, to enjoy a good game of rally with excellent graphics! For those times that you don't have something else to do and want to "kill" some time playing a game. Its a really cool feature. THE PRICE: From my research I have found that the best deal in the market at the moment is £59.99 with £21 per month line rental at VODAFONE 100 minutes X-NET and 50 free test messages(fonetasticmobile.co.uk)If you can be patient and wait for a couple of months you definitely going to buy it cheaper as the competition between the many companies is massive. WHY THIS AND NOT THE OTHERS: There are many mobile phones in the market but I will compare it only with Nokia 7250 which i believe is in the same range. The others are just mobile phones! Many feel that is better because is smaller. My humble opinion is that Nokia 3650 is b etter. Even though the Nokia 7250 has a colour screen and integrated camera, the unique difference with the Nokia 3650 is its unique appearance ? featuring a circular designed keypad with five-way scroll key - but it also possesses the ULTIMATE camcorder and video player. A TINY DISANDANTAGE: The cool keypad is a different Keypad. All these years we have use to use the specific type of keypad that all the mobile phones have. At the beginning you will find it really difficult to write a simple text message!It will take a bit to get used to. Also I have to mention the keypad has a "plasticy" feeling at the beginning that you will start get use to in about an hour-approximately! Nokia 3650 is a different and cool phone, for different and cool people.

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Nokia 3650 Things are altering rapidly @ Nokia. While they have always been known for consistency, they have not always been the predecessors of creativity and innovation. After the release of the Nokia 7650, the Nokia 3650 is set to be much more featured packed and bizarre looking. The Nokia 3650 looks significantly diverse to any other mobile phone in the market, with Nokia designers opting for a dial layout for the keypad. The phone boasts a large 4096 high-resolution color display and 176x208 pixel screen. For all you individuals out there, a range of Xpress-on covers with at least 3 shades like Blue, Fuchsia, and Purple changeable color covers are already available to suit your mood! Key features The phone has been based on the same Symbian operating system used on the 7650. You will be able to capture images and a large 640x480 resolution. To take a picture you simply use the integrated digital camera and use the phone display as viewfinder. The key difference for the 3650 is you can capture video and use the Real One player on the phone to play it back. With 4MB of internal memory and the ability to use external memory cards should help on hungry applications like these. 16 MB default memory card comes free which can be upgraded to 128 MB You will be able to send files via infrared and bluetooth. The phone also supports Java and will be able to play and download exciting interactive games, making it easy to play multi-player games over infrared and Bluetooth. I am using Nokia 3650 since almost a month, people do give a weird look @ me, as its looks extremely gizmo-ish or rather a man using a device from Star Wars epoch! But the bottom line is with specs like, weight: 130 g (with standard battery), Talktime: Up to 2.5 - 4 h, Dimensions: 130 x 57 x 26 mm and key features like Video capture (Camcorder) and playback, still imaging, multimedia messaging, JavaTM MIDP 1.0, Blueto oth, large color display, tri-band world phone, polyphonic ringing tones the Nokia 3650 is a brilliant and phone and definitely a must buy for all the gizmo freaks and hi end corporate on the move! Mehul Patel is the Consulting Director of KIPL.Net - Digital Design & Communications, The author can be reached directly via email on mehul@kipl.net

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"No video calling ability"

Having previously owned a Nokia 7650 (and being left rather disappointed), I had some very strong expectations of this handset, Nokia's latest 'smartphone' offering. I was well aware of the phones' camera capabilities, and the video recorder function from my time with the earlier 7650, but I was equally aware of the numerous glitches on the 7650 - the phones predecessor of sorts. Whilst the 7650 offered great potential as a phone, my usage entailed continually running out of memory in which to store my photos and videos. Additionally, as the memory on the 7650 was shared for photos/videos and programs, I was left with the continual dilemma of whether to use it solely as a toy, or as a business 'tool', and was greatly impressed by the Sony Ericsson P800's expandable memory - a feature I greatly required from my (then) 7650... I decided to ditch the 7650 in favour of something a little more applicable as both a personal phone, and a tool for my freelance work about five months ago - this started an immense amount of research time into a suitable replacement. During this time, I considered the Sony Ericsson P800 (who wouldn't), the Nokia 9210i, the Orange SPV, and a couple of 3 phones by NEC and Motorola - then I heard about the Nokia 3650. My key concerns when researching into the replacement phone were as follows: 1.) Reliability 2.) Connectivity with a PC 3.) Functionality 4.) 'Future-proofing' 5.) 'Complete' cost These may all seem like completely ‘standard’ reasons for upgrading or changing any phone as is, but under further analysis, my reasons become clear; using the Nokia 7650 as a baseline, I’ll detail exactly why the 3650 fits the bill. Reliability As an owner of a 7650 for no less than five months, I was subject to no less than four warranty and insurance returns. As a semi-professional user (I like to take a few we ekend snaps, hence the camera phone) having this many changes of phone was a bit of a pain in the backside – could you imagine changing phone every five weeks (and I’m not talking to those of you who already own 7650’s)… The 3650 has a backup to memory card facility built into it, and so is, by design, more reliable than the 7650 managed to be. For those of you with a PC (and the desire to keep your phone in good working order), the purchase of a simple MMC reader with this phone means that you’ll be able to backup all of your numbers, photos, videos and games with fantastic ease – suddenly reliability isn’t so much of a daily concern! Connectivity with a PC One of my biggest bugbears with the 7650 was the lack of provision for users who don’t own a laptop or a Bluetooth-enabled PC. Whilst the 3650 retains the lack of design allowance for a data cable, use of the (supplied) memory card and a card reader with your PC allows far easier data transfer between the phone and computer. As I need to be backup my images and video footage, this provided a far more efficient and effective solution than relying on an infrared adapter (which are usually highly light-reactive and expensive) for my computer. Functionality As a former 7650 owner, and a keen fan of new technology, it was imperative to me to have a phone that offered something new and remained usable. A brief look over the spec list of the 3650 doesn’t really offer many surprises in the modern phone market – full colour screen, still and video camera facility, MMS, Bluetooth, 4Mb memory, and so on. However, there are a couple of key areas in which this phone shines – expandable memory, and fully featured Bluetooth (meaning that a Bluetooth headset is now available for this phone, unlike the 7650). By providing these extra functions, Nokia has opened up a whole new range of phone users to their produ ct. For my side of things, it solves two major headaches of the 7650 – memory capacity and the ability to multi-task effectively within the Symbian operating system. Future-proofing Being the user that I am, it was very important to me to able to buy a phone that will be solid and reliable now, but also capable of staying with the market leaders until third generation phones became the norm (my analysis of currently available 3G phones is that they are generally poorly designed, and developed in the minimum amount of time to catch the early market – I’d predict that until Nokia and Sony Ericsson start making 3G handsets, this will remain the case. Additionally, usage of 3G data connections is far too expensive at the moment to make it worthwhile) I knew from the 7650 that the phone would be based on the Symbian Series 60 operating system, and as such would be capable of using downloadable software. This is a key point – whilst the phone comes with a solid range of usable software as standard, there are a wealth of developers out there creating some excellent packages for this device, especially in gaming and media applications. Coupling this with the use of the commonly available and inexpensive MMC (Multi Media Card) memory format and the phones’ ability to communicate with other devices via Bluetooth, this phone leads the field in my mind. ‘Complete’ cost I was one of the fortunate few out there who knows where to go and buy a phone. By this I mean that I was able to find a high-street retailer that were able to provide me with my phone on the tariff of my choice for the right price – in this instance, free. However, I knew before purchase that whatever model I went with, I would have to buy some accessories to ensure that the phone would be capable of ‘fitting in’ with my current solution – in this case, the phone had to be able to function alongside my PC. So, having got the phone for free, I was able to extend my budget for peripherals, allowing me to look at a few key additions. Firstly, I purchased a larger memory card than the supplied 16Mb unit (which in itself will store over 400 high quality images), opting to buy a 128Mb card, at a cost of £40 including delivery (you’ve got to know where to look!). Additionally, I decided that as I had brought a massive memory card for the phone, a USB card reader would be advisable (meaning that I could remove the memory card from the phone, and use it with my PC as a removable drive – no need to use Infrared or Bluetooth to transfer files now!) Having invested this amount of money in the phone, I was extremely satisfied… So, time to summarise I think. Overall, this phone is an extremely strong contender (or for my usage, the best available at present), offering an accumulation of features available on other models – whilst the Sony has a better screen, it can’t film video; where the 3G offerings have faster download times, the Nokia is affordable; and where the SPV has better video playback, it’s only available on the Orange network. However, nothing is ever perfect – as a result of having such a wealth of affordable or freely available third party software, clashes can occur, necessitating a complete format of the phone and a full restore from backup. This is a rare event, but it is excruciatingly aggravating and time consuming when it does happen. All things considered though, I’d recommend one. In fact, why are you still reading – shouldn’t you be on your way to the shops?

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This phone is great! It fits in a pocket easily, and the ergonomic design ensures that it. The menu is user friendly. The handset weighs just 130g . The build quality of the mobile is great. There is a real feel of quality about it. The built in camera (640x480) was a breeze to use, and taking movies and pictures was child's play. With the added benefit of sound on the movies, one can't really go wrong. With 3.4MB space, ther is bags of room for multimedia. Text messaging was horrible as the keys are layed out in the most ridiculous way ever. The circular keys may be sylish, but they area real pain!!! The abilty to use MMS (Multi Media Messaging) is another massive bonus. The large bright colour screen made the phone even easier to see, and the Symbian operating system is fast and efficient. The phone can handle Java, making downloading games etc. a piece of cake. The phone also features Bluetooth which is incredibly handy for laptop users, and those wanting to use wireless Bluetooth headsets. Infra Red is also present. There are several fun games, and of course WAP 1.2.1. This arrives over GSM, HSCSD or GPRS. The phone is dual band, capable of high speed data transfer and features voice dialing. Sadly, (probably due to the big screen) you only get 2-4 hours talk time, and 150 - 200 hours standby time which is pretty poor in relation to other models. The 7650 also has this problem. I have found however, that this makes little difference, as you can put the phone to charge every night. The phone is very similar to the 7650 (hence the similar review!), but is probably more aimed at younger people. The keypad is a pain, but those with perseverence will surely master it. I think that I would recommend this over the 7650, as it has a neater design, but it is certainly a close call.

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got the nokia 3650 camera phone a few weeks ago now and i swear its bloodly amazing! Walk around town taking photos of everything its great fun! a must have phone! Also a great laugh this is a mans phone! so Females keep away! Good things about this phone! * great picture quality! *sounds not to bad *Built in hands free which is very useful *large display screen! * kool little video clips Theres to many to list! This phone is a must get! only bad things about this phone is the time it takes to load some software programs/videos bit annoying! other then that go out and buy one! www.nokia3650.net is a good site if you wanna find out more! Also photo examples! Enjoy!

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p800

I am unfortunate enough to work in the mobile department of a large computer software company. This means that I get access to some of the latest phones – those of the ‘smartphone’ rather than ‘small’ type. The phones I use do not have changeable covers! I’ve owned a couple of palm pilots (they are that unreliable) and resisted even buying a phone at all until about two years ago but for the last year have had to work with the things. I would guess that these smartphones are mostly bought either by serious business types for the useful features and by techno-junkies. Whatever, I’m more the serious user. I can’t comment on the cost/value of this phone as I didn’t pay for mine. The 3650 is based on the Symbian operating system. I mention Symbian as it is used by all the big manufacturers (Nokia, Sony-Erikson, Motorola etc). There are some similarities between all Symbian phones but the differences are surprisingly large. The other main alternative to Symbian is Microsoft. The only Microsoft based phone I know of is the Orange SPV which is really, really awful though doubtless Microsoft will get better (if they don’t give up as they did with TV Set Top Boxes). I’ve used a number of smartphones recently and I can compare the 3650 with the Nokia 7650 and the Sony Erikson P800. In terms of size it’s a little large. It’s wider than most conventional phones which I find ok but it is longer than one is used to. I think it’s almost identical to the 7650 which is Nokias older model. The main difference between the two is that the 7650 has 4Mb built in memory and an expansion slot whereas the 3650 has a 16Mb memory card which could be exchanged. The other difference is that the 3650 comes with a video camera capability. This application is available for free download on the Nokia site for the 7650. Both the 76 and 36 have GPRS. Neit her has a web browser like the Nokia Communicator brick I used to have. I know one would say you can’t surf a standard web site on a phone and it’s true some sites don’t work well or even at all if they have flash or javascript but it was a useful capability. Nokia sells a browser for these phones but I haven’t tried it. Both have WAP browsers which work well. The calendar function is very useful and I keep all appointments and meetings on it. The 36/76 phones will run Java games and snake and one of those picture squares are provided. Snake is great fun and the quality is really quite good. I don’t doubt that other games would be well worth the money and it would be a good device for this purpose. I haven’t done much more than play with the video recorder and it’s a bit blocky but can be fun. The still camera built into the 36/7650 appears identical in resolution; the images work well on the phone and are acceptable when transferred to a pc. I keep pictures of my kids on the phone and my four year old uses it to take pictures of the floor, his hands and blurred pictures of his sisters. I’ve only sent a few MMS images and they can be fun, if frivolous, though I’m sure these phones can add a whole new dimension (or 2) to the term ‘obscene phone call’. I’m not much of a text messager and find mobile keyboards almost impossible to use for more than short entries. The 76 uses a standard keyboard layout while the 36 has the keys arranged in a circle. I didn’t find this easier to use so I guess it’s purely aesthetic. If you are used to texting on other phones I imagine you will hate the 36 keyboard. The 7650 uses a joystick sort of button which provides direction (i.e. push it towards the right, left, up or down) and selection (like a button on a mouse) which is very easy to use. The 36 does the same thing but the button is a sort of wobbly pl ate and it’s very easy to get a direction instead of a click by mistake. The battery in the 36/76 is good – I leave it plugged in at work every day but over the weekend with some use, it still has a few power bars left. The 76 has a pull out keyboard and is noticeable smaller when closed. To me, the 36 looks a bit of a toy compared to the 76. Overall I’d pick the 76 over the 36 but these are great practical and fun toys and worth the money. However, I’ve just had a play with the Sony Erikson P800 and that is a very good phone. The screen is bigger, crucially it has a ‘peck’ touch screen like you get with palms. Where this comes into it’s own is for text entry. It also has a small numeric keypad and rotate and click wheel for scrolling and selecting down lists like the old Blackberry. I haven’t compared the resolution but the SEs built in camera seems inferior to the two Nokias. Its perhaps a more sensible rather than fun option. I understand that the P800 is, I think, about 100 pounds more expensive than the 3650 but I’d probably go for that if I was buying a conventional phone today. So, put my money where my mouth is, what will I buy? I’ve put my name down for a ‘3’ third generation phone. These also run symbian. From what I’ve seen they are inferior ergonomically to the P800 (only keyboard entry) but the differentiator is the services that they offer. I have high expectations of this service. I’ll let you know if it’s any good!

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Well..it all started when i lost my Nokia 6610..and i was thinking about what other phone..i first came up with Sony Ericsson P800..IT WAS PRETTY AMAZING...at first..but u cant zoom..and then camera quality was not that good..and could not record video..The nokia 3650 on the other hand could of done all this stuff..3650 runs on series 60 symbian and i have found a lot of good applications..there are 2 negative things in the mobile phone..1st is the keypad and thats needs some time getting used to..when u buythe fone u do not get everything witht he fone..only charger..cd..manual..memory card..and the battery and the fone itself.. overall i thought that the nokia 3650 is a better mobile fone than the sony ecrson P800..P800 is more like for buisness men and not for teenage boys..

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I bought this phone a week ago. Now I must admit I was led by its looks and although I've never had a nokia phone before, I heard they easy to use so I decided to go for it. After loking around on the net I ordered it from e2save on the O2 network. A day later the phone arrived much to my exitement, a quick charge later and we were ready to go!!! The phone's layout is realy simple to use, It comes with a quick start guide which told me all I neded to know, everything else I worked out for myself. The keypad is differant but I've adapted to it quickly although I could see compulsive texters having trouble getting used to it. The picture quality isnt brilliant but what do you expect for a gadget. Overall I love this phone and now am envy of my friends.